55 pounds of narcotics marked with "XXX" decals found floating off Key West
Authorities in South Florida recovered a large bale of narcotics over the weekend, after receiving a report that packages marked "XXX" could be seen floating off the coast of Key West on Saturday.
Key West police responded to the report along with officers from the Monroe County Sheriff's Office. As the unnamed person who called in the tip had described, officers found a stash of bricks wrapped in plastic and marked with decals about 50 miles from shore in Key West's Coconut Mallory Marina.
The bale contained 25 rectangular bricks, according to the county sheriff. Photos published on the office's Facebook page with its recent news release announcing the drug seizure showed the bricks uniformly packaged and arranged in a pile. Each bore a black-and-white "XXX" sticker.
Officials estimated that the bricks collectively weighed around 55 pounds. The sheriff's office said they were submitted to the office's property and evidence division, and would ultimately be turned over to federal authorities.
The sheriff's news release only referred to the drugs found in Key West as narcotics, but a report by CBS Miami noted that they were suspected to be cocaine. The Monroe Sheriff's Office seized packages containing 74 pounds of cocaine in 2020, after a fisherman reported observing them floating in the ocean about 15 miles from shore, according to CBS Miami.